''Scott Frances: MonoVisioN''

Photographer Scott Frances deals in what he calls architectural porn. That is, photographs of beautiful homes set in world-class locations with stunning views, or commercial buildings, such as museums or performance halls, that are as much works of art as what they contain. The images seen in his exhibit “MonoVisioN” come from his recently released art book of the same title. The photographs are stunning, insightful and, he likes to think, painterly.

Frances has enthusiastically embraced PhotoShop; he works with technicians for an average of two hours per image in postproduction. That, he says, allows him to capture each aspect of his subject — the best sky, best building, best background — and put them all together in one image that would be impossible to get in reality.

One of his favorite shots is of a little girl standing in the middle of a gallery in the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. The walls and soaring ceiling are a study in white, the floor blond hardwood. Gold-leafed religious icons hang on one wall; large, colorful paintings on another. The little girl, wearing a plain green dress and flip-flops topped with bright pink flowers, hugs herself in delight as she considers the wonders around her.

Location Info

Map

The most painterly image in the exhibition is of the backyard view from Estée Lauder’s Florida home; it’s all fairy-tale pink wrought-iron patio chairs, impossibly green grass and unbelievable blue sea. (According to Frances, Lauder’s backyard used to be a freeway. The state of Florida rerouted it so Miss Lauder could have access to the beach front.)